Marilyn Cohen, Democratic Powerhouse, Dies At 74

WEST HARTFORD — Marilyn Cohen, a longtime leader of the Democratic Town Committee who was an ally to many of the state's prominent Democrats, died in Maryland on Saturday. She was 74.

Born Marilyn Francis Snyder, Cohen "fell" into politics as a stay-at-home mother who joined the League of Women Voters of Greater Hartford in order to add some excitement to her life, according to her daughter, Shelley.

Though Cohen started off licking envelopes and running an Election Day call center out of her living room, she eventually became known as a political powerhouse, helping to start the careers of Connecticut politicians like Kevin Sullivan and John and Christopher Droney.

"She fought hard. She was a worker bee," Shelley Cohen said. "People came to trust her and to trust her judgment."

Cohen was the political director for former U.S. Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman's first U.S. Senate campaign in 1988, served on the steering committee for President Bill Clinton's 1992 campaign and was the state director for the Gore/Lieberman presidential campaign in 2000.

Cohen led the Democratic Town Committee for 13 years before she stepped down in 1998 to head Barbara Kennelly's campaign for governor. Under her reign, the party held the majority on the town council and school board for more than a decade.

"She was very generous of spirit, very generous with wanting to help people," Shelley Cohen said. "She believed all politics is local; you really have to collaborate and work together for a common goal to make things better and make politics work. She was fiercely democratic."

"She was, at one time, the most powerful female political figure in the state of Connecticut," John Droney said on Monday. Cohen was vice chairwoman of the Democratic Town Committee when Droney was chairman, and led the committee when he moved on to head the party on the state level.

"She had been a real player in Democratic politics for 25 years, but she also had the reputation of being a very decent person," Droney said.

Cohen also served on the town plan and zoning commission, on the board of the Metropolitan District Commission and was an assistant clerk of the state Senate.

Besides politics, Cohen was passionate about many things – her grandchildren, cooking and eating good food, gardening, rock 'n' roll, the Red Sox and "Days of Our Lives," to name a few, according to an obituary prepared by her daughter.

Although Cohen and her husband moved to Maryland about seven years ago to be close to her daughters and six grandchildren, she belonged to the League of Women Voters of Greater Hartford, where it all began, until her death, according to Shelley Cohen.

Marilyn Cohen is survived by her husband of 53 years, Leonard S. Cohen, her daughter Stephanie and son-in-law Benjamin Outt, daughter Shelley and son-in-law Michael Gala, and six grandchildren.

A funeral will be held at Judean Memorial Gardens, 16225 Batchellors Forest Road, Olney, Md., at 1:30 p.m. on Thursday. A reception will follow at 2901 South Leisure World Boulevard, Creekside Building B, Olney, Md.

"In lieu of flowers, the family asks that people contribute to a scholarship fund being set up in Marilyn's name for young women aspiring to enter politics," according to an obituary prepared by the family. For details, email Shelley Cohen at shelleyhopecohen@gmail.com.